


Venom – the relationship

by orphan_account



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Dark, Essays, Humor, Other, Sarcasm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 12:44:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15863880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “You’ve no idea how much you’re scaring me right now.” All the unanswerable questions you have never dared ask about Venom.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rating Explicit is perhaps not warranted, but some parts of this may gross you out or come across as offensive in some other way. I like to handle serious topics with a liberal dose of black humor. Don’t read if you’re sensitive about the ins and outs of bodily functions.
> 
> Based on the trailers for Venom (2018). English is my second language.

I, a fan and a writer, am getting fed up with the whole “two become one” concept of Venom’s existence. But the damn thing won’t leave me alone! So in order to subdue my demon, I sit down and try to draw its shape in words much too crude to serve my purpose. I wonder: does Eddie find himself in a similar situation?

And then there is the next question: what does the Symbiote want? What are its fears, its weaknesses, its wishes? Is it vulnerable, and how so? Does it understand concepts such as power and responsibility?

The main emotion triggered by an alien invasion seems to be fear. Either individual or collective, when something foreign is introduced to a well-known mode of living, fear takes center stage. In certain ways, we are taught that this fear is an ugly, shameful thing. We should embrace uniqueness of others, appreciate the variety offered to us by those different from ourselves, find our own place within the complex humanity without losing sight of the whole.

Yet not everything is as clear-cut. The privilege of acceptance and appreciation appears to be given only to humans. Other life forms are somehow exempt. Do people find themselves eager to be infected with lethal bacteria because of the numerous opportunities the incurable disease might offer? After all, once you are very, very ill, you experience multiple things you have never experienced before, like pain and helplessness and loneliness. Your horizons expand. You learn to treasure life in a whole new way because you sure as hell didn’t take time to enjoy it when it was yours for the taking. You meet new people, perhaps people you have never thought of meeting, people who have power over your health and comfort, like doctors and nurses. You learn a bunch of new stuff that is really exciting in a medical or scientific sort of way – you discover all the turns of phrase that mean basically the same thing: you are going to die the hard way.

A lethal virus is not so very different from a gluey, denser-than-mucus space being of a sinister color that approaches you with slow, snake-like movements. (No wonder those poor unfortunates in Carlton Drake’s lab went berserk when they saw the thing.)

Humans are sentient, intelligent, self-aware. Viruses, bacteria, fungi … are not. So why should they receive equal treatment? They should be killed, exterminated, destroyed. After all, they are nothing but a nuisance.

And then there are the Symbiotes. Sentient, intelligent, self-aware, host-seeking, occasionally lethal and not without a certain flair for the dramatic. Locked up in a lab. Used in much the same way as viruses, bacteria and fungi – with casual and self-righteous indifference. Kept alive solely for someone’s convenience. Never allowed to exercise their abilities or those of their hosts. Exploited, but not appreciated.

Should they be feared? They kill people. Can they be reasoned with? They kill people. Do they have anything in common with humans? I already told you they kill people! The answer is no! A resounding, final no!

Right. So what is Venom, then? An aberration? Let’s examine the evidence.


	2. Chapter 2

"Eddie."

"Who said that?"

“Eddie,” to my ears at least, sounds like a nickname. Definitely not what I’d call someone I have just met (unless I’m told it’s okay). So when this monstrous voice from nowhere in particular calls Eddie by his name, it comes across as positively threatening and yet strangely intimate. The unexpected familiarity establishes their relationship and life together as Venom.

“Everyone’s got their thing. Maybe it’s a break up, a death, an accident. Whatever it is, you used to be one thing. Now, you’re something else.”

Notice how Eddie doesn’t say “someone else,” but rather “something else.” What he becomes is not a different person, but a different being, one previously unknown in the entire universe. “Pivotal” is not strong enough a word for it.

“We all have our own problems, our own issues, our own … demons.”

Eddie’s word for the Symbiote is a “demon.” Not altogether unexpected, it implies that Eddie is possessed by an unnatural force too powerful and too perverse to belong to the world of sunshine, death and taxes. You can usually count on any self-respecting, well-mannered demonic presence that it may be safely exorcized, but in Eddie’s case? Not likely.

“What can you want from me?” is a typical question to ask of your demon. And the answer is as enigmatic as you please: “You’ll find you.” Let me translate that: “I have a plan and I’ll share it with you when I’m good and ready. Or maybe I won’t tell you anything, and you’ll be left in the dark while I sit back and enjoy your discomfort. That’s what you want to hear, right?"

One sign of demonic possession that I picked up from watching too much TV is uncontrollable body movement, possibly of the sort that defies the law of gravity. Eddie finds himself continually thrown against a wall – any wall, in fact, would do. I suppose, since this is the Symbiote’s fault, that the least it can do is spare Eddie the inconvenience of a concussion and several bone fractures. Practical invulnerability is also a sure sign that the human in question is no longer, well, human. Remember when Eddie smashes into a fallen tree as he’s running through the woods? He goes right through it, sending splinters flying all over the place.

And let’s not forget the chilling scene where Eddie happens to catch his own reflection in a car window, and instead of his own familiar features, the precursor of Venom’s face stares back at him. Hallucinations are also not uncommon when one is taken hold of by demonic powers, and I don’t blame Eddie in the least for touching his face to make sure his mouth hasn’t turned into a set of blade-like teeth.

I haven’t said a word about walking down the street or making use of public transportation while talking to oneself, giving the appearance of a full-blown madman. In fact, Eddie talking to the Symbiote is perhaps the most sensible thing he can possibly do. If you’re meeting an alien, the first thing is to lay the groundwork for ongoing and open communication. The Symbiote is by no means opposed to the idea, fortunately.

“Look into my eyes, Eddie.”

And such pretty eyes they are, too. No, no, I’m just kidding. My point is the Symbiote is fully aware of its own being. It says “I” and “my” as opposed to “you” and “yours.” It knows itself to be separate from Eddie and treats him as such. While Eddie has a long way to go before he starts using the plural, the Symbiote has its own development to achieve as well. But something doesn’t ring true.

“The way I see it, we can do whatever we want.” The Symbiote is clearly thinking of living as a joint activity, of them as an inseparable whole. While it and Eddie may not share the same views on how things in general should be handled, they have to act as one.

It is doubtful whether the Symbiote really needs Eddie’s consent for whatever he – it – they do. If not, why go to the trouble of convincing him to cooperate? If yes, why is Eddie not more in control from the very beginning? The answer, perhaps, lies somewhere in the middle.

“Why would we do that?” is the first time the audience hears Eddie speak of “them.” I think this has more to do with what takes place only seconds before, i.e. the fight with Mr. Drake’s, um, employees. The Symbiote takes control of the situation with extreme prejudice, using Eddie’s body as well as its own to neutralize the evident threat. I suppose Eddie has no say in the matter because it hasn’t occurred to him that he might. He’s disoriented (“I don’t know”), appalled by what he does (“I am so sorry!”) and is running on instinct rather than rational thought or thorough reflection. Once the fight is over, he demands an explanation. He wants to hold himself and the Symbiote accountable for their actions.

“We cannot just hurt people,” he claims. It is a plea and a statement of fact at the same time: “You alone cannot do it. I have a part in it, too, even if only because it’s my body you’re using, and not somebody else’s, and I’m not agreeing to this.” But it could also be construed as an ultimatum.

“If you’re going to stay, you will only hurt bad people.” Now that’s definitely an ultimatum, and possibly a threat: “Behave or I’ll get rid of you.” If the Symbiote has anything resembling a temper, it might take offence at Eddie’s bold words. It may even feel somewhat inferior: it needs a host and Eddie doesn’t need it.

“Eddie, cooperate. And you just might survive.” Another threat, another ultimatum. But am I one hundred percent sure it’s the Venom Symbiote who says that? Maybe not. It makes me wonder who is the enemy here. Who is trying to kill Eddie? The Symbiote – his Symbiote? “Behave or I’ll eat you, too,” is that it? It sounds rather counterproductive. What if the government and the Life Foundation want Eddie dead simply because he knows too much? That seems much more plausible. But there’s a third option. What if Eddie is going to get killed unless the Symbiote stays with him to protect him, heal him, and win his battles for him? What if it uses this predicament as leverage in order to force Eddie’s hand?

Eddie can be seen chased by speeding vehicles (at night, no less), running through the wilderness and jumping out of windows. Not even his job could prepare him for something as adrenaline-packed. It’s dangerous and if he were alone, he would die. The Symbiote saves his life, healing what would otherwise prove to be fatal injuries. I believe something happens at that moment, something significant. I believe Eddie says yes. Not because he has no choice, but because he wants to live. Life with the Symbiote is better than no life at all. As he is brought back from the brink of death, he accepts himself and the Symbiote as partners in life, and Venom emerges.

That is the turning point for Eddie, but is the Symbiote on the same schedule?

“Do we have a deal?”

It is unclear when the Symbiote makes its offer, but for me, it signals the beginning of a new era in Symbiote’s life. It wants to make a deal. Now that’s a breakthrough! It shows the Symbiote is prepared to treat Eddie as an equal and not just a vessel, a container. Everything seems peachy. So what is there to fear?

“We will eat both your arms, and then both of your legs, and then we will eat your face right off your head. You will be this armless, legless, faceless thing, won’t you? Going down the street, like a turd … in the wind.”

Yeah, it’s gross. And scary. It’s also funny and witty and honest. Since the Symbiotes adopt certain personality traits from their hosts, how much of that speech is actually something that Symbiote picked up from Eddie’s subconscious?

It seems that each bonding of a Symbiote and a human produces a different result. Venom, as created by this particular Symbiote and Eddie Brock, a reporter, is unique – quite a different Venom from the result of a potential joining of the same Symbiote and, let’s say, some random guy on the streets. But I think that’s the charm of it. Eddie is that somewhat random guy from the streets. When he meets the Symbiote, it doesn’t kill him, it doesn’t drive him insane, it doesn’t turn him into a complete monster. Perhaps this can be seen only as a caprice on the Symbiote’s part, a sudden inspiration, a show of goodwill. I think it might be more than that. (Credit where credit is due, after all.) Eddie is the host who achieves all these things: he survives, he keeps his head, he sets the priorities. Those are the qualities of a hero, not a victim.

True to form, Eddie has the last word: “Oh! … I have a parasite. Yeah … Night, Mrs. Chen!” What I’m hearing is something like this: “I know, it’s bad. Trust me, it could be a lot worse. You're welcome!”


	3. Chapter 3

_It could be a lot worse._

Yes. Yes, it could.

What if something went wrong? It’s the thing about Venom that is particularly difficult to grasp exactly because it’s just the opposite of what actually happens. Or, if it does happen, it is hidden. I am talking about Eddie’s cooperation with the Symbiote on a day-to-day basis. Sure, when it’s time for action, they might achieve wondrous results, vanquish the enemy, save the world. Yeah, and then they have to go home. Together.

(Let’s suppose for a moment that they are in fact allowed to live in peace, lead a normal life - as much as anything involving a Symbiote can be called normal. I don’t think it’s likely, but what the heck, it’s fiction.)

Once Eddie Brock and the Symbiote introduce themselves as Venom, does that mean they have already figured out all the ins and outs of getting along – or are there a few snags lying in wait that might present a significant challenge?

Such as breathing. Human body needs oxygen. But other life forms on this planet need oxygen as well and not all of them have lungs. Not all of them breathe. Maybe the Symbiote can deliver oxygen to Eddie’s cells without him having to take a single breath. It sounds outlandish, but it can prove very useful. Death due to poisonous gas exposure or drowning may not be a problem anymore. But is it comfortable, not breathing? What if Eddie were prone to panic attacks once his muscles of respiration stopped moving? And - I don't really want to go there, but I've come too far to back down now - is it technically feasible for Eddie to breathe, or speak, once he's suited up? Venom speaks and, presumably, breathes. How? What happens to Eddie's vocal cords that makes Venom's voice sound like his throat is falling apart? Every vowel, every consonant has this wet quality to it, like soft tissue when it's being slowly, leisurely pulled away from itself and then torn into pieces.

Sleep. Eddie is human, he sleeps. Does the Symbiote? If it needs a period of inactivity every now and then, it might not be unreasonable for Eddie to expect the Symbiote will adapt its biorhythm to his own sleep pattern. Sounds easy enough, but is it? What if the Symbiote doesn’t need rest? What if it’s not patient enough to be content with waiting quietly for several hours a day every single day? What if it forces Eddie to be up and about nonstop? The Symbiote-induced sleep deprivation may not harm Eddie, since the alien must have some way of manipulating Eddie’s biochemistry – but what a nightmare! Not being able to sleep is fine if you’re a vampire, but a human burdened with a constant alien presence in your mind and body? I bet Eddie would want to sleep just to escape the “reality” for a little while.

Food and drink. Meals. Taking meals. Cooking. Socializing. Going out. Meeting friends. A lot of things are connected to the concept of nourishment if you’re a human, but a Symbiote? It eats other people, how many times do I have to point that out? If Venom feeds, is Eddie’s appetite for food gone as well? Are you serious? No pizza, no ice cream, no popcorn, no maple syrup? A life without the taste of food, without the comforting sensation of drinking pure water or whatever beverage Eddie might fancy? Sheer torture.

As an aside, humans get drunk. Humans take drugs and all other kinds of substances, addictive or otherwise. God forbid the Symbiote should be susceptible to such influences. Its behavior is erratic at best, what would happen if it got high on weed? Eddie has no such habits of self-destructive proportions - but even if the opposite is true, to say that his days of binge drinking have gone out the window is an understatement.

Disease. Can one really expect the Symbiote to be resistant to the plethora of the Earth’s pathogens? Can one safely rely on the Symbiote to pass on its own resistance to its host? Maybe the Symbiote can withstand Ebola or Marburg virus, who knows? But one thing is certain. A Symbiote brought down by the common cold is not a pretty sight. Hilarious, though.

Body waste. Going to the bathroom with the Symbiote sounds … awful. Do you really want to be watched doing whatever needs to be done? By an alien? Remember that among the very first things that alien took care to learn upon arriving on the planet Earth was the meaning of the word “turd.” And it’s not afraid to use it. But there are worse alternatives. What if the Symbiote got rid of Eddie’s body waste for him, somehow processing it - or integrating it into its own body? Disgusting, right? But convenient. Eddie would never have to use the bathroom again. Lucky Eddie.

Hygiene. Somehow, I feel I have covered that in the previous paragraphs. All the things that come along with being human – sweat, tears, saliva, blood, semen, mucus, pus – taken care of just like that. But imagine the Symbiote doesn’t particularly enjoy water. It’s not harmful, just unpleasant. And Eddie likes to take a shower just to clear his head, get his ducks in a row. I can’t imagine the Symbiote playing a duck.

And just for the fun of it: if a Symbiote's host is a woman, what happens to her menstrual cycle? What happens if she's already in menopause? How is her ability to conceive and bear children affected by the presence of the alien? If she wants to have a child and the Symbiote is less than enthusiastic, what can she do about it? If a Symbiote is naturally curious – and I think they are inquisitive creatures, given their intelligence – maybe it wants to give it a try. Just to see what pregnancy, giving birth, nursing etc. are like. But the story doesn't end there.

Imagine a Symbiote wanting to have an offspring of its own, and wanting the woman's biological child to be its host – their children, bonding to become, grow up and live their entire lives as one being. Oh, boy. Having a Symbiote attached to you once you're an adult is difficult. Growing up with one may be even more difficult, but it could feel great and, after all, quite natural. Until something goes south and your Symbiote leaves you and you have no idea how to live a human life (if you survive at all) because you've never been fully and only human. What dreadful, terrible ideas I have.

And so we have come to this. Last but not least, sex. Since he has bonded with a Symbiote, does Eddie want or even need sex anymore? If so, who's his lover? Another human being such as himself (minus the parasite) or the Symbiote? Maybe it wants to try sex, but Eddie's not up for it. Perhaps he won't settle for some gruesome imitation of a human body, made of black goo. Is it warm? Is it comforting? Can it hug Eddie like his girlfriend can (or should I say ex-girlfriend)? Is it soft? Is it kind?

Masturbating with the Symbiote watching doesn’t sound like fun, either. In the worst case scenario Eddie is perpetually unsatisfied because his “pet alien” won't allow him to keep up a conversation long enough to get laid. The best case scenario? Just as good as it sounds. Possibly better.

The question is: is the Symbiote’s perception of pain and pleasure defined by its host, and to what extent? The worst thing for Eddie – absolutely the worst – would be the Symbiote taking advantage of him, enjoying all the perks and letting Eddie deal with the damage. The Symbiote may turn a blind eye to Eddie’s discomfort, not experiencing it directly. Perhaps it does not understand what it means to suffer the way humans do. Perhaps it does not want to.

The psychology of the union between a human and a Symbiote is incredibly complex. The potential downsides are … daunting. Consider that the only one Eddie can talk to at all hours of the day, is the Symbiote. Issues such as lack of trust, mutual betrayal, psychological torture, denial, rejection, general lack of kindness or understanding, constant misunderstandings that arise at the most inconvenient of times, losing touch with reality, threatened sense of identity, terror of invasion, fear of intimacy, shame, embarrassment, loneliness, loss of control, strange dreams, alien’s memories – who can he talk to about any or all of these things but the very cause of his misery? Add to that physical pain or mere discomfort, amplified by its constant presence, and Eddie’s life is no longer worth living.

Speaking of identity, is Venom one creature or two? How many humans? One or none? Or why even bother figuring it out? Isn’t it pointless to dissect and analyze “them”? Isn’t it wrong to say “Venom is”? Venom are. So how does that work? How do they reach any decision, even the smallest one? It’s clearly not a democracy. If they want the same thing, great. If not, one of them gets their way and the other one doesn’t. Or neither of them get what they want, which sucks. So, who owns whom? Who’s the top and who’s the bottom?

Strangely enough, I don’t really think this is a dominance and submission scenario. It’s much simpler and yet harder to maintain. It’s cooperation in the true sense of the word. As far as the Symbiote is concerned, it has to have a host, and it’s probably well adapted to a wide range of peculiar traits and habits the host might indulge in. Which is more, it’s probably conditioned - by its own biological outcome of who knows how many eons of evolution – to want what the host needs. But suppose it isn’t?

More than one Symbiote arrived on Earth. And they can and probably do reproduce. Are they all the same or do they have different personalities? Are some of them reckless? Intrusive? Controlling? Cruel? A human cannot know what he or she is getting into until the Symbiote is already wrapped around every muscle, every nerve, every cell in their body – and then it might be too late to take it back to the Life Foundation and demand a refund.

All in all, I think it will turn out that Eddie is one of the lucky ones. The Venom relationship will be a success in that whatever it takes from Eddie, he’ll get something else in return. Not every human who has met a Symbiote can boast about that.


End file.
